In a word, yes! Fortunately though, in America we often learn from history and our citizens have the means provided by our Constitution to take corrective action, and with the proper result in the upcoming elections, our bitter fate can definitely be avoided.

When Adolf Hitler was building up the Nazi movement in the 1920s, leading up to his taking power in the 1930s, he deliberately sought to activate people who did not normally pay much attention to politics.

Such people were a valuable addition to his political base, since they were particularly susceptible to Hitler’s rhetoric and had far less basis for questioning his assumptions or his conclusions.

“Useful idiots” was the term supposedly coined by V.I. Lenin to describe similarly unthinking supporters of his dictatorship in the Soviet Union.

Put differently, a democracy needs informed citizens if it is to thrive, or ultimately even survive.

In our times, American democracy is being dismantled, piece by piece, before our very eyes by the current administration in Washington, and few people seem to be concerned about it.

The president’s poll numbers are going down because increasing numbers of people disagree with particular policies of his, but the damage being done to the fundamental structure of this nation goes far beyond particular counterproductive policies.

Just where in the Constitution of the United States does it say that a president has the authority to extract vast sums of money from a private enterprise and distribute it as he sees fit to whomever he deems worthy of compensation? Nowhere.

And yet that is precisely what is happening with a $20 billion fund to be provided by BP to compensate people harmed by their oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Many among the public and in the media may think that the issue is simply whether BP’s oil spill has damaged many people, who ought to be compensated.

But our government is supposed to be “a government of laws and not of men.”

If our laws and our institutions determine that BP ought to pay $20 billion — or $50 billion or $100 billion — then so be it.

But the Constitution says that private property is not to be confiscated by the government without “due process of law.”

Technically, it has not been confiscated by Barack Obama, but that is a distinction without a difference.

With vastly expanded powers of government available at the discretion of politicians and bureaucrats, private individuals and organizations can be forced into accepting the imposition of powers that were never granted to the government by the Constitution.

If you believe that the end justifies the means, then you don’t believe in constitutional government.

And, without constitutional government, freedom cannot endure. There will always be a “crisis” — which, as the president’s chief of staff has said, cannot be allowed to “go to waste” as an opportunity to expand the government’s power.

That power will of course not be confined to BP or to the particular period of crisis that gave rise to the use of that power, much less to the particular issues.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt arbitrarily took the United States off the gold standard, he cited a law passed during the First World War to prevent trading with the country’s wartime enemies. But there was no war when FDR ended the gold standard’s restrictions on the printing of money.

At about the same time, during the worldwide Great Depression, the German Reichstag passed a law “for the relief of the German people.”

That law gave Hitler dictatorial powers that were used for things going far beyond the relief of the German people — indeed, powers that ultimately brought a rain of destruction down on the German people and on others.

If the agreement with BP was an isolated event, perhaps we might hope that it would not be a precedent. But there is nothing isolated about it.

The man appointed by President Obama to dispense BP’s money as the administration sees fit, to whomever it sees fit, is only the latest in a long line of presidentially appointed “czars” controlling different parts of the economy, without even having to be confirmed by the Senate, as Cabinet members are.

Those who cannot see beyond the immediate events to the issues of arbitrary power — vs. the rule of law and the preservation of freedom — are the “useful idiots” of our time. But useful to whom?

10 Responses to Is U.S. Now On Slippery Slope To Tyranny?

Where was Thomas Sowell in 2001 when Bush rammed the Patriot Act though congress? Where was Sowell when Bush was wiretapping? Where was Sowell when the last administration tortured the same man 183 times to get him to say what they wanted to hear?

Just where in the Constitution of the United States does it say that a president has the authority to extract vast sums of money from a private enterprise and distribute it as he sees fit to whomever he deems worthy of compensation? Nowhere.

And yet that is precisely what is happening with a $20 billion fund to be provided by BP to compensate people harmed by their oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

What a shock, yet another right wing conservative ASSHOLE steps up to the plate to defend BP. Pretty shameful that the GOBP has to defend a criminal enterprise whose 700+ safety violations lead to the death of eleven people, the destruction of an ocean and the destruction of the income source for many small businesses.

Kinda funny how your so called “party of small business” is more concerned with a billion dollar corporation than the REAL small business people.

At about the same time, during the worldwide Great Depression, the German Reichstag passed a law “for the relief of the German people.”

That law gave Hitler dictatorial powers that were used for things going far beyond the relief of the German people — indeed, powers that ultimately brought a rain of destruction down on the German people and on others.

What a shock, another improperly used Nazi comparison. (rolls eyes)

But the Constitution says that private property is not to be confiscated by the government without “due process of law.”

Sweet. I’d love to see BP in court. I’d love to see that smarmy British douche in a prison suit. BP should have to own their fuckup. They should have to own the fact they went ahead and drilled without adequate emergency procedures in place, procedures that were there had the phone number of a guy who died five years ago. They should have to own the fact that they had hundreds of violations. They should have to own the fact eleven people died.

The way I see it, let the $20 billion be the out of court settlement paid, much like someone would pay to settle a case rather than go up against Tim Misny.

I cannot BELIEVE all the conservatives that are defending BP, when they are clearly the perpetrator of gloss negligence in the greatest environmental disaster in history! Are you people for REAL?!! Sheesh! Sometimes I think that conservatives will argue any stupid point just to say the opposite of liberals. REALLY conservatives?? You REALLY think that BP does not need to man up and pay for their mistakes??
And yeah, the Nazi references are really getting old too….people have been complaining about how our government is becoming “like the Nazi’s” for decades. It hasn’t happened yet. And I’m not worried about it happening any time soon.

I do, I do, Girly! (: lol.. I think that BP needs to man up for their mistakes. It’s not like they took the “job” without knowing it was a dangerous one. They really should have to pay our citizens back for all the income & business lost, jobs lost, & property damaged. And as for clean up.. I think they should have to pay for the majority of it.

I cannot BELIEVE all the conservatives that are defending BP, when they are clearly the perpetrator of gloss negligence in the greatest environmental disaster in history! Are you people for REAL?!! Sheesh! Sometimes I think that conservatives will argue any stupid point just to say the opposite of liberals. REALLY conservatives?? You REALLY think that BP does not need to man up and pay for their mistakes??
And yeah, the Nazi references are really getting old too….people have been complaining about how our government is becoming “like the Nazi’s” for decades. It hasn’t happened yet. And I’m not worried about it happening any time soon.

No conservative is saying that BP shouldn’t pay, they are undeniably responsible and have always stated that they would “make this right” but it is quite disturbing to have our President bully them into creating yet another politically controlled slush fund, or try to make BP pay oil workers who were laid off due to Obama’s arbitrary drilling moratorium, of which BP bears no responsibility or control.

As for the “nazi” references, they are simply par for the political course:

The odd part is, the Nazis were actually socialists, their complete name was the
National Socialist German Workers’ Party but the English translation was “the Nazi Party” (from the German pronunciation of Nationalsozialist)

For all the insults that critics have leveled against GWB, noone was ever able to even suggest that he was a socialist and he never arbitrarily took over any of our industries or made any anti-capitalist statements like our current “Führer” has, 😉 nor did he have an anti 2nd amendment voting record or ever express a desire to create an armed “civilian defense force”, which Obama stated should be “as well trained & heavily armed” as our military…if you take into account the presence of legally armed citizens, cops, SWAT team members & in extreme emergencies, heavily armed National Guard troops, I just don’t see the need for a group of gun toting, artillery & armed aircraft supported “stormtroopers” roaming around in our cities & towns….

ironic PB, how flip floopy you really ARE. you miss the days of denigrating our president, but yet, when anyone says “boo” about YOUR messiah, they are unpatriotic, slanderous, racist & horrible.
funny how that works huh?